Beware bi-partisan energy plans

Have you ever heard of a Gang that has done anything well? Gang of Four? Gang of Fourteen? Now, there’s the Gang of Ten, pushing a bipartisan energy bill that does… well, it’s alot of tax credits and drilling. That’s pretty much it.

Since it has the word Gang in it, of course Lindsey Graham, McCain’s lapdog in the Senate, has to be involved. But it can’t be good for conservatives, that’s for sure.

Basically, Republicans get their bone (more drilling), and the democrats get their bone (tax credits and R&D monies for alternative fuels). In the end, it’s going to be alot of money spent ($85 billion and not all of it paid for:

Offsets
The $84 billion in investments in conservation and efficiency in the New Era bill will be fully offset with loophole closers and other revenues. Approximately $30 billion will come from new revenues from the oil and gas industry through such measures as modifying the Section 199 manufacturing deduction for oil and natural gas production and other appropriate measures to ensure that the federal government receives its fair share of revenue from Gulf of Mexico leases. Remaining offsets will be finalized in consultation with the Finance Committee after accounting for interaction effects with other pending legislation.

Translation: We’ll try and bleed as much as we can from oil companies, but for the rest, we’ll just tax and borrow like we always do. We don’t need no stinkin’ pay-go rules, this is an election year!

This will do pretty much the same as it was before, so there’s not going to be any real change in US government energy policy with this Gang of 10 bipartisanship. Huh, just like the Gang of 14.

One more note, this another time I’ve noticed that more spending for infrastructure “$2.5 billion in R,D&D on next generation biofuels and infrastructure; Tax incentives for the installation of alternative fueling stations, pipelines and other infrastructure;”

This, along with the other proposals (ie. the Obama plan and the fuel tax increase), all mention shifting money towards construction in infrastructure. Now, I don’t have a problem with this in principle, as long as the money is use wisely and correctly. The current political structure, on the other hand, has no idea how to spend money. So we should fix that before we start putting more money toward construction.

Of course, I’m impressed with the lobbying acumen of the highway construction/contractors group, whatever it is. I’m seeing more and more money getting shoveled in their direction. And the most recent highway bill doesn’t expire until next year!